MTR 1377 Breakfast with Steve Price
Friday, 9 July 2010
Topics: Proposed regional immigration processing centre
STEVE PRICE: Brendan O'Connor is the Minister for Home Affairs. That is the good news for the Government, the bad news is they're in damage control this morning over the comments the Prime Minister made at the Lowy Institute earlier in the week in regard to a detention centre in East Timor. Thanks for your time Minister.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Thanks Steve.
STEVE PRICE: Did you jump in too quickly as a government and announce the East Timor option do you think?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Oh look, I know people are saying that but on Tuesday the Prime Minister said she'd spoken with the President of East Timor and talked about the possibility of a regional centre and that possibility still exists and as of yesterday the Prime Minister of East Timor, after discussions with his President, has agreed to sit down and go through the detail of the processing centre. I think that's a good step forward.
STEVE PRICE: They do though seem unwilling to accept this unless they get a hell of a lot more detail. Have you been involved in the planning detail of this and indeed is their any detail?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: I think the first important step, point to make Steve, is to say we've got a Prime Minister who wants to deal with this matter and relentlessly pursue a solution over the longer term and that's why within the second week of her Prime Ministership she's engaged with not only the President and now Prime Minister of East Timor but the Prime Minister of New Zealand to say we need a regional fix for this, we cannot do it alone and we need it for the longer term and I think that was the right approach.
Now you have to of course engage with people and then you can sit down and work through the detail but processing centres are not new. Regional processing centres have existed before, they can exist again and for that reason we now are in a position to sit down and work through the detail and we also of course will be engaging with other partners.
I mean the Bali process that was set up some time ago engages a whole range of countries about this issue and it is a regional problem and needs a regional answer.
STEVE PRICE: There was even suggestion this morning that you might put Mannus Island back on the radar, are you looking at reopening Mannus Island in New Guinea?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Well we'll engage with any of the countries within the region on this matter that are signatories to the Refugee Convention. As I understand it, PNG are signatory to the convention so we will certainly engage with those who are willing to take the next step forward and the next logical step in this process in relation to East Timor is to sit down and work through the detail and that's a good thing.
STEVE PRICE: But Mannus is an option is it?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Well Papua New Guinea is a signatory to the Refugee Convention and therefore we were willing to engage on that basis because we believe we need to have a regional approach, one that also recognises the convention in that manner. But also you know, has the involvement of the UNHCR, that's a proper sustainable approach because what would happen...
STEVE PRICE: Well that would be your easier option, it's there. It's built. It's - I don't know what its operational status is but it's been used before so that would be easier than building something new in East Timor wouldn't it?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Well we’d involve any countries that are signatories to the convention. That includes PNG. Though at this point...
STEVE PRICE: I know you keep saying that Minister, I don't quite under...I mean Mannus Island is an option, isn't that though just going back to the much-criticised Howard Government Pacific solution?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Well we can't do this unilaterally, it has to be done regionally and it has to involve the UNHCR, so there are certain conditions that we would put in place because we need to have, I believe, a proper approach. One that is also internationally recognised as a proper approach, but regional processing centres, Steve, are not new, they've been used before.
Malcolm Fraser, who has indeed endorsed this approach had regional processing centres and we can do the same here and that's why we'll sit down with East Timor and other countries about this matter.
STEVE PRICE: The big ambition for you of course is to stop the boats coming. Will this stop the boats coming?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Well the reason why this proposition is so important is it's effectively saying to people smugglers you cannot lure people onto dangerous vessels with the promise that you'll get them to that destination because they'll be taken to a centre and after which they they'll then be settled in a refugee country only if they're a refugee.
At the moment of course you know, people are seeking to come here and they are lured onto dangerous vessels, on perilous journeys and we've got to avoid that at all costs.
STEVE PRICE: So you were involved in the process of engaging East Timor were you?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: No the Prime Minister has engaged with the President initially, and of course now the Prime Minister and President of that country have said that they're willing to sit down on the detail. This is an initiative of the Government but it is the Prime Minister taking a lead on an issue because we need a regional approach there.
STEVE PRICE: But did the Timor solution come as a surprise to you?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: No it didn't come as a surprise. This has been a conversation that's been had. It's a decision of the Government but the Prime Minister of course taking the lead.
STEVE PRICE: All right. Thanks for your time, I know you're busy. Thanks for helping us this morning.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Nah no problem Steve. Cheers mate.
STEVE PRICE: Minister for Home Affairs there, Brendan O'Connor.
